


Under Pressure

by kittenCorrosion



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Aged Up, BIG FAT COLLEGE AU, F/M, One Shot, el is jane rich here, fake dating au, inspired by a prompt on twitter, meet cute i guess, nervous!mike, no brenner au, she's happy and well adjusted for once, this boy is one giant nerve, very nervous mike lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 17:56:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18530194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittenCorrosion/pseuds/kittenCorrosion
Summary: "au idea: fake dating because both characters are broke college students and the psych department at their university is doing a paid study on couples. they don't notice the 'participants must have been dating for at least six months' stipulation until they're literally sitting down to meet with the researchers for the first time and have to come up with an entire relationship backstory on the fly." @goreboyfriend on twitter





	Under Pressure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cali-chan (girls_are_weird)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/girls_are_weird/gifts).



> okay so the first thanks goes to cali-chan for retweeting this au idea so i could see it, and the second one goes to laura for helping me flesh it out a bit.
> 
> i don't really want think i need explain it, just go for it.

It had been hard to miss. Not only had the advertisement been printed onto neon pink paper, but the biggest font on the entire thing was the “$500” followed by multiple exclamation points. Jane had been hoping to find a study that would pay her maybe fifty bucks, enough to get some more groceries so she didn’t have to try and call her parents and ask for money—again.

But five hundred? Oh, there were many things she could do with that, more than groceries and shampoo. Maybe she could actually go out for a nice dinner at that new Vietnamese place in town she’d been dying to try. Or see a movie. Buy a new book. The normal, small indulgences that had been pulled away from her when her parents had told her they were going to backpack across Asia during their joint sabbatical leave and that she would be in charge of her own finances since they would be virtually unreachable for at least six months if not longer.

And while Jane was great at analysing people and understanding the heavy tomes of her pre-law classes—she wasn’t great at math or money or any of the things she’d suddenly become responsible for. Full-on adulting wasn’t supposed to be a requirement until _after_ college, and she hadn’t been ready. She still wasn’t.

It was a lot of bullshit and the reason she was frantically searching every bulletin board she came across for dog walking ads or health studies.

Another presence appeared slightly to her right as she’d scanned the vast board, but she hadn’t bothered to really glance over at the person until she’d reached for the pink paper and her hand promptly smacked against a much paler, larger hand reaching for the same thing.

“Oh, sorry, my bad,” an overly nervous voice apologized quickly, the hand withdrawing back as though it had been burned.

Her eyes followed it, up the lanky arm to the tall young man next to her, his back hunched over as if he was trying to be smaller, his adam’s apple bobbing in his throat as they made eye contact. Dark brown eyes, darker than a night sky, blinked back at her, and she let herself take in the freckled nosed that stuck out from the well-sculpted face, a black mop of hair tickling around his ears and dusting his arched brows.

He was definitely familiar, but it took another few seconds of staring at his pretty face to remember they’d had several general classes together: Ethics, Intro to Pysch, and… shoot, what was the name of the computer class? She couldn’t remember and quickly moved on, his name coming to her in an instant, the one announced in class when he was called on, his ridiculously long arm held high in the air as he answered the questions with intelligent confidence.

“Michael, right?” She shrugged, unbothered by the accident but appreciating that it had given her an excuse to fully take in his rather handsome features. “No worries.”

For a moment he stared down at her, his thick lashes fluttering as he seemed to process she was talking to him and then he swallowed again, bobbing his head up and down. “Yeah, cool, thanks.”

Her attention quickly diverted back to the bulletin board, still wanting to know what exactly could earn her such a sufficient chunk of cash.

“Paid study,” she read out loud, interest instantly piqued. “University Psych department looking for—” Her tone immediately dropped to disappointment, “—couples. God damn it. Of course.”

She was decidedly single, not having found a single male on campus in her year and half there who had seemed to have enough brains to hold a conversation with her for more than five minutes. Or at least a conversation that didn’t end in some sort of sexual proposition, none which had been enticing either considering the vast majority of them seemed to be neanderthals on sports scholarships or pretentious assholes only looking for something she wasn’t interested in giving.

“Is that the five hundred dollar one?” It was Michael again and she turned to look at him as he pointed towards the paper in her hand, his wrist limp. “Couples only?”

“Yeah,” she sighed, her heavy breath of disappointment blowing a stray curl out of her face. “Figures.”

“That blows.”

“Definitely,” she agreed glumly, moving to pin the flyer back onto the board.

Her hand froze, eyes fixed on the black type, unable to help but read the insane dollar amount one more time, and then rather suddenly a plan hatched in her mind. It was stupid, maybe, but it was worth a shot. What did she have lose, other than a chance at five hundred bucks?

She turned to fully face Michael, who had been looking at the board again, catching him a bit off guard with her sudden attention. “Hey, you’re single, right?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “You want to make some money?”

“Um… what?”

There was nothing but surprise and confusion in Michael’s gorgeous eyes and Jane couldn’t help but smirk. “You wanna be a couple? Go and answer some questions and then cash our check and split? I mean, even if it’s only five hundred for both, that’s still two-fifty for each of us and I know I could use the cash…” His confusion had turned into panic that was visibly in the twitch of his brow and she laughed, reaching out to touch his arm reassuringly. “I promise this isn’t some weird plot to get your social security number or something, I just really want to get that money. Or is that totally creepy?”

“U-Uh, n-no I—” He didn’t even seem to know what to say, his feet scuffling, eyes suddenly looking everywhere but at her. “I-I mean, you would be okay with… me?”

Jane took that into consideration for a moment. He had always seemed pretty nice—or at the very least, non threatening—and the fact that he was so flustered was kind of cute. Actually, _he_ was pretty cute in general. Maybe she’d let her eyes wander over to him more than once during those long lectures about Kant and morality during Ethics, and seeing him up close just proved what she’d noticed before. He had a sort of softness about him, like he wouldn’t hurt a fly, and if it was just for one day, what was the worst that could happen?

“Should I not be okay with you?” she couldn’t help but challenge, cocking an eyebrow.

“N-No! I mean—I don’t _think_ so—”

“Michael—your name is Michael, right?”

“I, uh, go by Mike, actually.”

She hid a smile. _He looks more like a Mike_.

“Okay, Mike. Look, I need some cash so I can eat for the next two weeks before my next paycheck comes because I don’t know how to handle money because I’m a flawed human being, and clearly you’re looking to make some too so… why not? What have we got to lose?” She shrugged, her hand dropping from where it had been resting on his forearm the last minute or so. “So what do you say, help a girl out? Make some major bucks?”

He didn’t answer right away and Jane felt her heart sink, watching as he licked his lips nervously, noticing how red they were, a splash of color against his pale skin, though his cheeks seemed to be flushing a similar color.

_He’s definitely cute. How did I never notice the jawline? Or the cheekbones? Hot damn._

Pretending to be his girlfriend would _not_ be a problem. If he could just say—

“Y-Yeah, sure. Why not.” He offered her a tentative but handsome half-smile. “What do we have to lose?”

She couldn’t resist springing forward and wrapping her arms around his skinny waist, giving him a quick but firm hug in thanks, noticing how he solidly he was built. Lanky but not scrawny, his chest was deliciously broad as her curls brushed against the front of his polo shirt. And he smelled good—like fabric softener and old books. She quickly released her hold on him, hoping that the overfamiliar gesture hadn’t been too much.

“You’re the fucking best, no joke.” She couldn’t help but beam up at him, the thought of the money in her hand soothingly satisfying, bringing the flyer back up to her vision, quickly skimming for a place and time. “It looks like it’s today, at three-thirty, office two-fourteen in the psych building, can you make it?”

He seemed to think but then nodded. “Yeah, I’m done by two.”

“Perfect. Awesome. This is going to be great. I’ll meet you there, maybe like fifteen minutes early? So we make sure to get in.”

“S-Sure, yeah, works for me—” His eyes finally met hers and he flushed again, rounding his shoulders and ducking his head. “I’ll see you then…” He trailed off and Jane couldn’t help but flush as she realized she’d asked him to be her fake boyfriend without even introducing herself. Oops.

“Oh, shit, sorry,” she laughed, hoping he wouldn’t notice her embarrassment. “I’m Jane! We had Ethics and Intro to Psych and something else together. That’s where I know you from.”

“Right…” he agreed, looking almost pleased she seemed to remember. “I, uh, knew I knew you but I wanted to make sure.”

“Sorry, I didn’t even tell you my name before I asked you to be my boyfriend.” She couldn’t help but snort, shaking her head at herself. “I can be such an airhead sometimes, but um, maybe we can run over some basic details before the study? Names for sure, but I have to run to Poly Sci,” she apologized, taking a few steps back, feeling bad for abandoning him when he was being so nice. “I’ll see you there, Mike.”

A glance at her watch told her she was going to be late anyways and she bit her lip, giving him a quick wave and feeling a quiver of nerves, wondering if her crazy, random plan would even work. But Mike just waved back as she turned on the heel of her white, converse sneakers, calling after her.

“See you there!”

It would work out fine. Somehow. She was just sure of it.

&&&

“What the fuck. What the _actual_ fuck?!”

Mike was pacing back and forth in his dorm room, occasionally catching glimpses of himself in the mirror that was built into the wall, every time looking at his reflection with unbelieving eyes and asking—

“Why the _fuck_ did you agree to this?!”

It was now two forty-five, meaning in about ten minutes he would have to leave his safe and comfortable room and walk across campus to the Psych building where he would meet _Jane_ and tell her about his boring life so they could pretend to be dating so they could do this study and make some money.

Together. With Jane.

 _Jane_.

“What the fuck were you thinking?!” he huffed.

He glared at himself in the mirror, dark brows furrowed, eyes glaring, hardly believing what he had done. Of all the girls on campus, she was the only one who made him turn into a mush-brained idiot. It wasn’t like he tried to sound like a total dumbass around her, but he couldn’t help it. They’d had a class together each semester, and every time he’d been unable to keep from noticing her when she would speak, or ask questions. Challenging other students or sometimes even the professor. There was no other woman on the entire goddamn planet that made him lose his mind as much as her.

She was so just _eloquent_ and _passionate_ and _intelligent_ … and _hot_. God, she was gorgeous, all wild, brunette curls, and ripped overalls, and loud opinions. They’d only talked once or twice before, once when she’d leaned forward during a lecture and asked him to pass her the attendance sheet next, and the other when she’d contradicted him after he’d suggested utilitarianism was more valuable than virtue ethics. (An opinion he had long since abandoned after that second week of Ethics class).

So yes, agreeing to pretend to date a random girl to make some money was pretty fucking ridiculous but agreeing to pretend to date the girl he’d basically had a crush on for over a year?

That was just _stupid_.

So of fucking course he’d done it.

His nerves were making it impossible to hold still, and he paced across the small room again, groaning at himself as the last few minutes of his time alone ticked away. It was more than nerves, really, it was some actual fear because… what if she found out he _actually_ liked her? That he’d spent some actual time pretending that there was a chance they would get together.

There had been one time, after she’d verbally eviscerated some asshole who had said depression wasn’t a real mental illness during their Psych class, when he’d imagined some scenario where maybe he’d introduced himself, asked her out for coffee, and she’d said yes. And they’d talked about her One Ring keychain and her Aslan t-shirt she wore sometimes, and she was so _smart_ and _pretty_ and then he’d asked her to go catch the Batman movie that had come out then, the one with Michael Keaton, and it would be a _date_. And somehow, he’d gathered the courage to hold her hand during the movie and then afterward they’d went to that coffeeshop a block down from the theater and talked even more, until the place closed, and then he’d walked her back to her dorm and kissed her goodnight. It would have been the start of something, something that could be _everything_. Because she was just that amazing.

Or so he imagined. It’s not like he actually knew her.

It had been one time thing, a lovely idea he’d given into because he wasn’t interested in Freud enough to pay attention to his notes, too entranced by the fierce tilt of her chin and the fire in her pretty eyes she’d debated psychosexual analysis. To be fair, she was worth daydreaming about, but he’d tried to quell his overactive imagination and keep her out of his fantasies, deciding it probably was creepy and invasive and god, if she ever found out, she’d probably demolish him and his entire life with that quick tongue of hers.

And now he was going to have to pretend that he wasn’t interested in her while simultaneously pretending he _was_ into her while a total stranger studied him and literally did some sort of psychological evaluation—

“No, fuck it, I am not going,” he suddenly burst out, turning on his heel away from the door and focusing on anything _but_ his sweaty face in the mirror. His eyes fell on the sketch he’d pinned up on the wall of the room, the one of himself and his three best friends, their lines and expressions caught in graceful curves of graphite, the detail impeccable, the precision damn near _masterful_.

All at once he remembered why he’d been looking to make some money in the first place. He certainly didn’t need it, his scholarship paid his tuition and his mom sent him all the clothing and money he could ever really need. No, it was because Mrs. Byers hadn’t been able to make the last few payments on Will’s tuition, and Mike _knew_ that the Byers would never ask for help, but he was worried for his friend and what might happen to him if they missed another payment.

And $250 was half a month’s check for Will, it would at least get him out of the negative balance, until they could figure something out. Mike didn’t want to step on any toes, but he couldn’t just sit on his fortunate ass and watch as his best friend got kicked out of college.

“Ugh, fuck, fuck shit, fuck, okay _fine_!” he relented.

He turned back and grabbed his coat, pulling it on with haste and grabbing his room key, shoving the door open and managing to lock it before stumbling down the hall like a total idiot. He had wasted five minutes he could have spent walking on worrying and pacing instead, and had to almost run across campus to the large hall that held the Psych and Sociology departments to keep from being late.

Jane was slumped against the wall when he walked in, her nose buried in a book, but she looked up when came through the door and the way her face lit up at the sight of him made his heart go totally fucking nuts.

“Mike! I thought maybe you were going to chicken out,” she teased, eyes full of laughter.

 _You don’t even know_.

He was panting a bit, waving his hand dismissively, too annoyed at his breathlessness to be nervous right away. “Chicken out of being psychologically analyzed while faking a relationship with you? How could that possibly be intimidating?”

Her laughter crackled, like lightning during a storm, and Mike couldn’t help but grin at the sound.

“I hope you know I really do appreciate you doing this.” She punched his arm affectionately, the action startling him enough that he flinched, but she didn’t seem to notice. “I apparently suck at being financially responsible and this is going to get me through the next month probably. Are you broke too?”

“Ah, um, no, but my friend is kind of behind on his payments so I thought—” He swallowed, shrugging. “I just thought I could help him out. Since it’s free money anyways.”

Jane’s intense gaze softened, and she tilted her head, gazing up at him. “That’s… wow. You’re a good friend.”

He shrugged again, not really wanting to commit to that. Will would do the same for him… that’s just how it was. It’s not like he needed anyone else’s approval or something. Jane seemed to notice, and quickly held up a piece of paper, changing the subject.

“Apparently we weren’t early enough, so we’re the nineteenth ones here, we have about a half an hour wait? The lady I talked to said it’s about a fifteen minute interview, we’ll sign waivers when we get in the room, and to just wait here until then.” Her smile quirked her pink lips up again, her hazel eyes lighting up with mischief. “Which means we have plenty of time to get our story straight. I figure if we fuck anything up we can just say we started dating a few weeks ago or something, I mean that would make sense. Do you want to go first or should I?”

Her idea of their fake relationship being fresh to cover up any blunders was smart, but at her question, Mike felt the nervousness from earlier climb up his throat, quickly swallowing it back down. “Um, you first?” he managed. _I don’t even know what all she wants to know._

She leaned against the wall cozily, scooting closer, and nodded. “Okay, so I’m Jane Rich, pre-law, sophomore, twenty years old. I live at home but currently my parents are on their joint sabbatical in… I think they’re in Thailand now? They both work here. Anyways, yeah, I live at home which is like a block south of here, and I’m born and raised here, um…” She furrowed her brow. “That’s a good start. What about you?”

_Okay, easy stuff. You were worried about telling her too much? Chill out._

“I’m Mike Wheeler, I was born in Hawkins like an hour away, grew up there. I live with my best friend in Will on the fourth floor of Monroe. I’m twenty too—I mean, twenty also,” he corrected himself with a shake of his head, “sophomore, I’m doubling in Physics and Creative Writing, and my parents are still in Hawkins—probably not talking about how they need to get a divorce. I have two sisters, one younger, Holly, and one older, Nancy. Uhh…” He trailed off, unsure of what else to add.

“What do you like to do for fun, Mike?”

“Uhhh…” He tried to think of something less dorky than video games and fantasy novels and D&D. “Well, um, I like seeing movies—”

“Star Wars?” she interrupted. “Is that a favorite?”

“Yeah…?”

“Your bookbag has a Rebel Alliance patch on it,” she replied casually. “It’s hard to miss. You said you have best friends? Your roommate?”

He was still a bit stuck on the fact that she’d recognized the Rebel Alliance symbol, glancing down at his bookbag before looking back up at her, trying to find the answers to her questions.

“Well, Will is my roommate, yeah, but I’ve known him since kindergarten. And there’s Dustin and Lucas too, they’re roommates in—”

“Nah, don’t need to know. Any pets? Cute memories I should enthuse about?”

He blinked, trying to keep up with her thought process, quickly shaking his head. “No, my dad’s allergic to any and all animal hair. What about you?”

“One cat. Smaug. He’s fat and old and just sleeps, but I would die for him,” she replied quickly, glancing around his head at a clock further down the hall. “Shit, has it really been ten minutes?”

Mike looked down at his watch, the name _Smaug_ echoing in his head, just as a door opened and voice called, “Couple nineteen?”. Jane sucked in a breath, a hint of nervousness shadowing her eyes, before she looked back up at him and shot him a reassuring smile. “Guess that’s us. So much for half an hour wait.”

Another couple appeared, looking sour, but Mike didn’t have time to process it.

Without any warning Jane’s hand shot out and grabbed his, lacing their fingers, and he suddenly couldn’t breathe. Her hand was so small in his—she was deceivingly delicate even though he was pretty sure she could kick his ass if she truly wanted. For a second he felt frozen, but then she turned to look at him, smirking and cocking a brow, tugging him forward with her grip.

_Oh right, we’re a couple now. Good thinking._

As long as he was able to remember that she was just playing along, maybe he could get through the next fifteen minutes without having a heart attack. He let her pull him down the hall and to the rather plain white room, sterile and cold, a single table and four chairs in the middle. A professor—Dr. Malcolm?—sat in one chair, and what Mike guessed was a final year student sat in the other, looking slightly less at ease. Both had clipboards and welcomed the pair in, quickly sliding pens and documents across the table, explaining what personal details they were agreeing to disclose for the study.

Jane let go of his hand to sign her waiver and Mike couldn’t help but wilt a bit at the loss of her warmth in his palm, quickly shaking himself out of it as he scanned the waiver. His dad always told him to not sign things without reading them, so he looped his signature as he actually skimmed over it, the usual permission and privacy agreement and—

 _Wait a minute. Does that say_ —

“Six months? Together?” Jane’s voice was weirdly pitched up. “That’s a requirement?”

Dr. Malcom and the student—Lindsey Keller, according to the waiver—exchanged a look of confusion and then nodded. “It was on the flyers we posted. Is that a problem?”

For once, Jane seemed tripped up, her mouth gaping slightly, clearly at a loss for words. Mike realized they were about to blow it, time seeming to slow as he glanced between her speechless face and the two researchers on the other side of the table. Sure, it was going to make it harder to sell the lie if they made any mistakes, but it would suck if they were sunk before they’d even started the interview.

He had to save this.

All at once he remembered his daydream, latching on to it and pulling it from the depths of his nervous brain. He reached over, grabbing her hand again and then tossing her an easy smile, letting himself laugh, amazed at how relaxed his own voice sounded.

“Only if it’s the max! We’ve been together for almost a year and half, right—” His breath hitched in his throat as he dared to try, hoping he wasn’t crossing any boundaries but wanting desperately to salvage the situation. “—babe?”

There were three tense seconds where she just stared at him, but then her mouth shut, curling up into a smile, and she squeezed his hand, the tension draining from her face. She nodded happily, suddenly looking almost _too_ lovestruck. “Of course! We met our first semester,” she quickly caught on, “we had Intro to Psych.”

The two researchers nodded, Lindsey quickly snatching up their signed documents before grabbing her pen and writing down a few notes, clearly buying the lie. “Who initiated?”

Jane opened her mouth but Mike didn’t notice, quickly answering, “I did. I asked her out for coffee after class. I’d had a crush on her for a few weeks but it took me a while to work up my courage. I didn’t think she’d say yes but—”

“I had to,” Jane beamed, and he couldn’t help but think how convincing it was. “He’s just too cute. And smart. Did you know he’s a double major?”

Dr. Malcolm didn’t seem too interested, but Lindsey continued to take notes. “First date?”

He didn’t hesitate and Jane seemed content to let him take the lead, watching with curious eyes.

“A movie, _Batman_ , the one Tim Burton directed, with Michael Keaton?” Mike flinched. “Bad casting on that part, but Jack Nicholson was totally spot-on as the Joker.”

“Should have stuck to _Beetlejuice_ ,” Jane agreed, surprising him a bit.

“Then we ended up at the coffee shop again—the one just down the block? And we talked until they kicked us out, and then I walked her back to her dor—” He caught himself. “Uh, her house, she lives at home, and I managed to get that good night kiss. The rest is history,” he finished with ease.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Jane watching him, and he hoped she couldn’t tell his whole spiel wasn’t just a spontaneous lie. When he glanced over, she seemed impressed, offering a conspiratory smile. Mike’s heart couldn’t help but skip a beat.

 _Jesus, she’s way too beautiful,_ he couldn’t help but think. _Even when she’s lying through her teeth._

They managed to fudge their way through a few more basic questions, what month and day they’d started dating—time of year was important apparently—and if they’d had any breakups along the way. Taking turns seemed to work to fill in the details, and they fed off of each other, sly grins and narrowed eyes, teasing with soft barbs and—

It took a second for Mike to realize it was like they were _flirting_. Were they flirting?

Holy shit, they _were_.

He didn’t have time to really to try and understand it as they questions kept coming in rapid fire succession.

“Jane, what’s your favorite quality about Mike?”

He gulped, realizing things were getting more personal, glancing over at her, wondering how far she was willing to sell it, but there was no indication she was ready to give up.

She looked thoughtful, thin brows furrowing together into a very convincing line. “Hmm… gosh, that’s hard. My _favorite_ … Okay, well, he’s usually up for anything which is fun. So, adventurous? And he’s always willing to listen to me, even when I’m being totally stupid. And he’s… sweet, apparently, that one I didn’t entirely know right away even though it seems so obvious now.” Somehow she managed to fake a blush, putting her hand over her mouth as though she was embarrassed. “Sorry, you asked for just one.”

Lindsey smiled, clearly softened by their act. “No worries. Okay, Mike how about you? Favorite thing about Jane?”

“She’s spontaneous,” he replied easily, feeding off of her generous start and throwing in his own thoughts, figuring she wouldn’t be able to tell. “And fierce—like Hermia. ‘Though she be but little, she is fierce’,” he quoted. “The day I asked her out for coffee was the same day she gave some guy in our psych class a verbal beating for suggesting depression and anxiety weren’t actually illnesses. It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen. I knew I had to talk to her.”

Next to him Jane snorted out a laugh, and he shot her a grin. His heart was still pounding, but he’d found his stride, enjoying how she seemed to be entertained. There were a few more questions, about their families, that she answered easily, name-dropping Holly and Nancy and gushing about how great it was to have sisters. He mentioned her cat in lieu of siblings, and the two woman across the table seemed to eat it up.

It was too easy, maybe, but they were on a roll now.

“Are you two sexually active?” Dr. Malcolm didn’t even stutter, looking over her clipboard at him with a shrewd gaze.

Mike’s throat went dry, eyes widening, unable to keep from choking, quickly coughing to cover his surprise. Had that been in the agreement he’d signed?! Jesus, he couldn’t do that to Jane, that was taking it too far. He wouldn’t make her uncomfortable like that, it wasn’t polite or—

“Of course!” She sounded too enthusiastic, giving him a soft elbow to the ribs and the biggest shit-eating grin he’d ever seen. “It’s okay, Mike. You don’t have to be shy.”

“I-I—” There were no words.

“How often?” Dr. Malcolm interrupted, face a controlled mask.

“As often as I can get him alone?” Jane shrugged nonchalantly, giggling, giving him another nudge in the ribs. “He knows how to keep me happy, is that enough information? He’s a bit shy about it.”

Lindsey chimed in then, her pen poised over her notepad. “What’s your favorite physical feature of Mike’s?”

“Just one?” Another giggle. Mike couldn’t tell if she was just trying to tease him, or if she was really wanting to sell their lie.

Lindsey allowed herself a smirk, glancing at Dr. Malcolm who nodded agreeably. “Top three?”

“Okay, well, obviously his height his nice. Makes me feel small, but in the best way, you know?” she gushed, leaning towards him in her metal folding chair, her hand on his arm. “And the whole dark eyes, dark hair combo? Ugh, it’s like, cute and broody without actually having the attitude, totally makes me just—” She closed her eyes and shook her head letting out a laugh, and Mike couldn’t help but a melt a little, his self-esteem bolstering at the kind words, even if they were made up. “Yeah, definitely good. But his eyes, they’re probably my favorite. When he looks at me, sometimes, it’s like… I’m the only person in the whole world he can see. And they’re so brown and soft—”

“Alright, thank you, Jane,” Dr. Malcolm interrupted dryly, clearing over it. “Mike? What about you?”

It took him a second to realize his name had been said and he blinked, dragging his attention from the pretty girl sitting next to him, feeling his heart start to pound. This time there was no lie in his words.

“First thing I noticed were her eyes too, honestly… they’re like, so clear and beautiful,” he said softly, the teasing tone from earlier gone. “Like at first you think they’re just light brown, like a jar of honey when you hold it up to the sun? But then, if you’re lucky enough to get closer, you can see there’s these little green dapples, and it’s like looking at a perfect summer day, just in her eyes.” A soft sigh left his lips, and he caught himself, blinking rapidly and sitting up a bit straighter, self-conscious. “Um, and they’re not just pretty. It’s the best way to figure out what she’s thinking, it’s all in her eyes. You can tell if she’s about to laugh or totally rip you apart. They’re just—” Another sigh. “Definitely my favorite thing.”

He finally dared to make eye contact with Jane, and she was staring at him, mouth gaping open just slightly, the most peculiar expression on her face. Mike couldn’t help but gulp. Her eyes really didn’t lie.

Right then a timer went off, making him jump, his knee smacking against the underside of the table, startling Jane too, and then Dr. Malcolm and Lindsey were talking to each other and comparing notes, nodding.

“Alright, thanks so much for participating. I see you left your contact info so we’ll put you in the drawing and let you know if you win the five hundred dollars,” Lindsey said amiably, giving them both a smile.

“It’s a drawing…?” Somehow Jane managed to keep a smile on her face.

“Oh yes, we knew there would be some people faking relationships just to try and get the cash, so we made sure to screen them all during this interview. We’ve already caught…” She glanced at Dr. Malcolm who finished for her.

“Eight. Out of nineteen. You’re our last real pair who showed up, lucky eleven.” Dr. Malcolm pursed her lips. “Some people will do anything for money.”

“Y-Yeah,” Mike managed, trying not to sound strangled but failing. “Anything.”

He didn’t dare look at Jane, instead pasting on a pleasant smile, suddenly confused as to what the fuck was going to happen now. The two researchers gathered their things, thanking the students again before leaving the small room, the door open, as Mike sat, frozen. The footsteps faded down the hall, a calm quiet filling the empty building.

All Mike could hear was his heartbeat pounding in his ears.

_We just sat here and did all of that for nothing?! For a fucking raffle ticket?_

He finally glanced over at Jane’s equally blank expression.

_I just told her my entire weird daydream about our nonexistent relationship. Out loud. And she heard all of it. For probably nothing._

The silence was becoming deafening, only the humming of the fluorescent lighting keeping it from being entirely deathly still. Mike’s annoyed disbelief quickly morphed into panic, insecurity dragging across his nerves and putting him back on edge. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm down.

Beside him Jane let out a similar sigh, hers filled with disappointment. “Well, fuck,” she finally said, turning her face to him, looking sheepish. “I dragged you into this and we’re probably not going to get jack shit. I’m so sorry—”

“No! No, I mean—” He swallowed, unsure what he was even wanting to say but knowing he didn’t want her to feel bad the whole situation. “You didn’t drag me into it, like, I wanted to get the money too so it’s not like I didn’t _want_ to and, um, I mean, it was kind of fun so—” His eyes had been darting around the room, trying to look at anything but her. “Don’t feel bad, okay? It could have been painful, but I mean, they totally bought it and honestly I haven’t lied that much to anyone since I last talked to my parents and it was like—”

Jane snorted out a laugh and he cut himself off, letting out his own nervous chuckle. She reached up and brushed a stray curl out of her eyes, nodding, before looking away to grab her bag and jacket, getting up from the table. Clearly she was over the disappointment and he startled a bit, surprised she’d bounced back so fast. Instead she was laughing and he couldn’t help join in, the total ridiculousness of the entire situation finally setting in.

God, they’d done it. Really done it.

Mike enjoyed the curl of satisfaction that tickled his stomach. “Yeah, we just totally lied our faces off to two psychologists and they _believed_ us.” He shook his head in disbelief. “That’s like the most fun I’ve had in awhile that wasn't sitting around a table rolling dice. So don’t feel bad.”

“Sounds like you don’t get out much,” she teased, the same flirty grin from earlier tugging her lips upward as she faced him again.

Mike was sure his heart was about to stop, his brain frantically scrambling to recognize that she was in fact flirting, like she had earlier in front of the researchers, only this time… she wasn’t faking it.

He wanted to freeze, every instinct that had made him awkward all his life jumping out, telling him to say nothing or to just run away from the situation before he could ruin it. But for the first time in his life he swallowed the urge to feel like a loser, instead slipping back into the role he’d just discovered, where he was confident and flirty and, dare he think it, _cool_.

“Maybe if I had a reason to go out I would—” His nerves caught him again and he cleared his throat, shrugging casually, suddenly regretting his words, reaching to gather his own things, glad for the excuse to break eye contact. “I mean, I-I—I don’t know. I don’t know anything. At all, ever,” he blurted, flushing. “I’m gonna stop talking, actually.”

Her eyebrows jumped, but she quickly hid any sense of surprise from her face, keeping the smirk, seeming not to notice his awkwardness or maybe just not caring. “I would let you buy me coffee, at that little shop down the block you mentioned? I’m still broke but if you want a reason…”

For a second he couldn’t breathe, but then he quickly nodded. “Yeah, yeah, that sounds great, and—” God, she seemed to actually be into it. How the hell wasn’t he shitting his pants right now? “Did you know that new Tim Burton movie is out? _Edward Scissorhands_? No Michael Keaton, but it has Johnny Depp and the same girl from _Beetlejuic_.”

“Hmm…” she walked around him instead of answering, towards the door and out the hallway, and Mike couldn’t help but follow.

He’d just put himself out there for the first time ever with the girl of his dreams. And somehow, he wasn’t as terrified as he thought he’d be.

She swung around to face him, grinning. “How did you know I like Tim Burton?”

“You just seem, uh, y’know, ‘strange and unusual’,’ he quoted, flinching a bit at how stupid that sounded.

A soft laugh left her, echoing around them in the hallway as she walked backward, shaking her head. “I’m going to let that one go because I do love Lydia Deetz and also because you’re buying me a movie ticket. And coffee. Maybe dinner too.”

She’d turned back around, strutting away more confidently then Mike could handle and he scurried to keep up with her, gulping. “Because you’re broke, right?”

“Well, yeah, but you could also say because I want you to be wrong.”

She was still walking but he’d managed to catch up, his long legs outpacing her easily, and he looked down with a puzzled frown. “Um, wrong? About what?”

They’d made it out of the building and were halfway down the sidewalk towards the edge of campus, the aforementioned coffee shop almost within sight, but he couldn’t help but stop, confused as to what she meant. The entire encounter was confusing, and he wasn’t entirely sure if they were still flirting or if they were only just now friends. What was the context here?

Jane noticed he’d stopped walking and turned, eyes mischievous despite the casual line of her lips. She shrugged, the epitome of cool indifference. “Wrong about who initiated. You said you asked _me_ out for coffee and a movie, on our first date? But I just asked you. So now you’re wrong.”

“Is… this is a date?” he choked out, eyes widening.

“Keep up, Mike. You were way too good at the fake dating thing, so like—” She bit her lip, the first shadow of uncertainty he’d seed all day filling her eyes. “I mean, unless I totally read the whole thing wrong. I actually kind of like you, but it can just be a friend thing if you want—”

“No!” he yelped, then flushed. “I mean, no to the—uh, the friend thing, I mean it _can_ be if you want it but I’m totally cool if it’s a date.”

Hearing that she did in fact like him was like being dropped into a lake during a hot summer day—refreshing and a goddamn relief. God, how had he ended up fake dating the cutest girl he’d ever had the nerve to have a crush on and then actually was somehow lucky to find out she liked him?! The confidence was still unusual but he decided to just go with it.

“But since you asked _me_ , shouldn’t you pay?” he teased, “Wasn’t that a topic you brought up during the feminism section in Psych?”

Her face turned pink and she seemed at a loss for words. Mike couldn’t help but laugh, surprised he’d managed to make her speechless. She didn’t seem to be the type that was easily got off guard, but clearly her passion for equal rights was putting her in a tough spot, because it was obvious that by her own logic, he was right.

He quickly put her out of her misery.

“I’m kidding, Jane, I don’t mind paying today. You can get the next one,” he added, feeling his heart jump in his chest as she broke out into a grin.

“Next one?” A single eyebrow arched but quickly dropped the teasing facade. “Yeah, sounds good to me.”

Her feet danced forward and she reached out, grabbing his hand, fingers lacing through his like they had earlier, only this time Mike knew it wasn’t just for show. She tugged him down the sidewalk and he gladly followed, feeling his heart fluttering and trill of excitement shiver through him as she so easily made herself comfortable next to him.

For a second he remembered his fantasy, the daydream of what asking out a girl like Jane could have been like. Smiling, he sped up, catching up with her and giving her a hand a squeeze.

This was so much better.

**Author's Note:**

> anyways now that i finally finished something after literal months of not being able to write for literally no reason, maybe i can get something else done?? god i have a million ideas and exactly zero motivation to sit down and finish them. sigh.
> 
>  
> 
> hi hello i hope you're all well and surviving during this dry time. only another two and a half months until s3. i feel like a fish in drying pond, just trying to get enough to keep going lol. shout out to all the other fic writers and artists for supplying content in our time of need.
> 
> see you hopefully sooner than later.  
> -g
> 
> p.s. come find me on insta for drunken ramblings about how great mike wheeler is @kittencorrosion.


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